Louisiana Book News: 'New Orleans City Guide of 1938' re-issued

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Louisiana Book News: 'New Orleans City Guide of 1938' re-issued
July 19, 2009
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uring a previous economic downturn, the federal government sought to get people back to work - and that included writers. The Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, established by President Franklin Roosevelt during the Depression, created the American Guide Series, 400 volumes examining every state and the territories of Alaska and Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
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The series included the New Orleans City Guide of 1938, written primarily by Lyle Saxon, in addition to one on Louisiana and Gumbo Ya-Ya, a collection of Louisiana folklore. The guides have long been out of print although Gumbo Ya-Ya was reprinted by Pelican Publishing of New Orleans. Now, Garrett County Press has reissued the New Orleans City Guide with a new introduction by Lawrence N. Powell, a Tulane history professor with a specialty in Southern history.

Included are original photographs, a fun collection of recipes, explanations of the city's economy, religion and education, among other subjects, and listings of places a tourist would wish to frequent.

There's also a discourse of black spiritual churches and voodoo titled "Negro Cults" and a recounting of New Orleans history told from a Caucasian point of view during segregation. Yet, Powell believes Saxon devoted much space to the African-American heritage of New Orleans, elaborating on a distinct culture to aid the black traveler, unlike the Mississippi Guide that belittled them.

"For what stands out about the New Orleans Guide are not the traces of racial condescension, but the willingness of a Southern white man to devote serious attention to black subjects during the 1930s," Powell writes in the introduction. "The New Orleans staff took seriously the charge to be of help to the 'Negro traveler' by delineating African-American entertainment venues and institutions, and by taking note of black cultural and artistic contributions."

Amazingly accurate despite the years and Hurricane Katrina are the neighborhood tours. Readers can obtain a copy and tour the French Quarter, for instance, and Saxon still will be right on the money.